One of the most likable guys in the peloton, Matt Shriver’s been a fixture in professional cycling for many years. Matt has raced professionally on the dirt, on the cyclo-cross circuit, and on the road. His incremental success has been due to years of hard work, perseverance and making a choice to live his passion for cycling. |
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I posted a bunch of Photos from B.C. Super Week taken by Photographer Greg Descantes. www.descantes.com. Check them out on the flickr page or on my photos page.
Our man Matt Shriver (JIttery Joe’s Cycling) just took the overall title at Tour de White Rock for the most points across the weekend’s events. This is a major victory for Matt, demonstrating how well he stacks up against some of the best cyclists in the world. Expect big things from Matt in the months and years to come. Congrats, Matt. Nobody deserves a big win more than you!
We have been racing every night since Wednesday. Tour de Gastown went pretty good for us, but still no victory. The Symmetrics team is riding super strong. We have been so close. Evan finished 5th at Gastown. The following night was Giro de Burnaby. We had a decent evening but the leadout got pinched on the inside and that was the end of it for our sprinters.
I had an awesome trip back home to Idaho and Wyoming. Did some really good training in the Tetons and the mountains surrounding Pocatello. I saw some good friends and made some new one’s as well. I even got to do a race in my old hometown of Poky and got my butt kicked. The Gate City Grind, which I hadn’t done in 9 years. Bottom line, I missed the break and was playing chase. Didn’t catch up, rookie mistake! I didn’t have my time trial bike so raced it old school on the road bike and ran 6th. Then lapped the field in the crit and took the win, moving way up in the G.C. It was a great week of training and racing, and visiting the family.
I have made the long haul from Durango back up North to Pocatello, Idaho and my old stomping grounds. I have a couple of weeks inbetween races and decided that it would be a good time to get up here for some training with no distractions. Durango can be to much fun after a block of racing. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy having a good time, but sometimes I get carried away. One night of fun turns into a week long bender and some road rash from crashing on the town bike.
After Tour de Georgia I pretty much crawled under a rock to evaluate the week of racing. Actually I would call it a week of motor pacing. That pretty much sums up Tour de Gerogia, 7 days of flat out, barely hanging on, motor pacing. It was fast! I was happy with my racing for the most part and met almost all of my personal goals. I really wanted to get into a long break on one of the days, I tried my hardest, but it just wasn’t meant to be. That was the most frustrating.
While the rest of my teammates were out doing battle on the last stage of the Redland’s Classic, I decided to pin the numbers on for the USAC Crit that takes place in downtown Redland’s during the Sunset Loop road race. It is known as “the crit of shame” among the pros. All the racers who either got shelled during the stage race or didn’t make the cut for the stage race squads get to have a crack at some good prize money and glory in front of the crowd that gathers to see the finale of the past four days of racing.
Yesterday kicked off the 08 season with the uphill time trial as the first stage of the San Dimas stage race. It was a tough climb, 3.8 miles of uphill. I felt about average and was a bit disappointed as I have been feeling pretty descent in my training. Training isn’t racing though and you can never tell how you are going to go despite good preparation until you are out there slugging it out. Both Neil Shirley and Trent Wilson are within 10 seconds or so of the lead. Not bad at all and that gives us some good cards to play today.
